Description: Season 5, Episode 16
Air Date: January 17, 1964
Plot Summary: A hothead discovers he has the power to exchange any of his traits with others.
Review: This is definitely one of the weirdest episode of TZ, and I can hardly remember watching this one before. I really don't understand how the premise is supposed to work, but I guess we must simply roll with it. The titular Salvadore Ross is an aggressive asshole who is both bitter that he's not successful and that he cannot have his dream girl, Leah. Although, Sal baby, why would you want to marry a chick who openly says she wants a guy exactly like her dad? That's just begging for problems and creepy as hell. Anyway, being the hothead that he is, Sal punches a door when Leah and her father tell him to go away. Breaking his hand from this action, Sal ends up in a hospital where he discovers his inexplicable power to swap characteristics with an individual. His first unsatisfied customer is a guy who says he'd rather have Sal's broken hand than a cold which the two do swap.
Immediately embracing his newfound power without further testing, Salvadore gives all of his youth to his old, yet rich, employer in exchange for the employer's fortune. As an old man, Salvadore manages to convince younger people to sell him their youth tiny bits at a time until he's completely young again. I love how no one questions any of this along the way...not even Sal. Once more trying to win over Leah, Sal realizes he really can't compete with good ol' dad which comes off creepier and creepier. Putting the icing on the creep-factor cake, Sal manages to buy the dad's personality traits to make himself a nicer guy. Big shock, Leah falls totally in love! Seriously, think about this--Leah admits she wants a guy just like her dad and finally falls for a guy once he actually adopts the dad's personality. Sal is an asshole, but this chick is nuts! By the end, the dad decides to shoot and kill Sal--since he never liked Sal to begin with--and he's no longer inhibited by his good nature. And that's all she wrote. The story here is just so bizarre. Nothing gets explained regarding this supernatural ability, how it works, or why Sal would have never discovered it sooner. Everything with Sal, Leah, and the dad is plain disturbing even for '64. What the hell was going on with this episode?
That guy is a dick! He's so manipulating and abusive to his girlfriend. It would've made Sal's experiences throughout the episode better if they made Sal more likable. They should've also had something a little more convincing than what they had here which made it possible for Sal to change ages, appearances, and health conditions. It was still sort of interesting, in a way, for one or two viewings.
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest here, I wasn't paying much attention to the last part of the episode the first time I saw it when I wrote my first comment, but I have seen it now. The first half of the episode, my words from my comment still stand about Sal being an abusive prick to his girlfriend and this episode. It did not explain well how Sal was able to buy years and health from other people. But I did enjoy the last part of the episode when Sal's girlfriend told him how the cure for his problem is not something that can be bought. How what Sal lacked was kindness and compassion, in spite of the other changes Sal had been trying to make. Then, Sal truly realizes that she's right and offers to buy kindness and compassion from his girlfriend's kind wheelchairbound dad for 100 grand. The next scene, Sal really appears nicer. The episode did a very good convincing job with making Sal's new body language, expressions, tones, and words of a kinder less hostile person. They also did a good job of doing the reverse with the dad. I could right of way see a different more bitter unpleasant expression and vibe on him now. Sal begged for forgiveness for all his past asshole behavior, the dad refuses to forgive him and shoots him.
ReplyDeleteOne other curious question, Sal's girlfriend went into her bedroom right before that happened, then we see him lying shot on the floor with no one else by him. Wouldn't have his girlfriend heard the shot from the next room and run out screaming and standing over Sal's shot body?